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UFC just signed Ill Will to fight Pearson
Top free agent lightweight Will Brooks (17-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) has signed a six-fight deal with the UFC and will meet Ross Pearson (19-10 MMA, 11-7 UFC) at The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale.
MMAjunkie today confirmed the booking with UFC officials.
Brooks currently sits at No. 11 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA lightweight rankings.
As MMAjunkie previously reported, Pearson was expected to face James Krause at the event, but Krause was forced to withdraw from the card.
The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale takes place July 8 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena. The night’s official bout order has yet to be set, but the evening’s main card airs on FOX Sports 1 following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.
As MMAjunkie reported in May, Brooks was released from Bellator despite holding the promotion’s lightweight belt at the time.
“It was very simple,” Bellator President Scott Coker told MMAjunkie at the time. “Will Brooks’ contract is ending, and we made a decision not to renew it. We’re going to give him a full release, so we’re not going to be in the Will Brooks business any longer.”
Brooks brings an eight-fight winning streak into his UFC debut. He fought most recently in November, earning a five-round unanimous decision win over Marcin Held to register his second consecutive defense of Bellator’s undisputed lightweight title.
Pearson will be looking for a second straight win for the first time in more than three years. After a two-fight winning streak over George Sotiropoulos and Ryan Couture, he had a no-contest with Melvin Guillard, then was robbed in a split-decision loss to Diego Sanchez that started his current eight-fight run of alternating losses and wins. Most recently, he took a split call from Chad Laprise in Australia in March at UFC Fight Night 85.
The current lineup for The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale includes:
Champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Claudia Gadelha – for for women’s strawweight title
opponent TBA vs. opponent TBA – “TUF 23” light heavyweight tournament final
opponent TBA vs. opponent TBA – “TUF 23” women’s strawweight tournament final
Will Brooks vs. Ross Pearson
Doo Ho Choi vs. Thiago Tavares
Andrew Holbrook vs. Joaquim Silva
Fernando Bruno vs. Gray Maynard
Cezar Ferreira vs. Anthony Smith
Li Jingliang vs. Anton Zafir
John Moraga vs. Matheus Nicolau
Kevin Lee vs. Jake Matthews
Top free agent lightweight Will Brooks (17-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) has signed a six-fight deal with the UFC and will meet Ross Pearson (19-10 MMA, 11-7 UFC) at The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale.
MMAjunkie today confirmed the booking with UFC officials.
Brooks currently sits at No. 11 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA lightweight rankings.
As MMAjunkie previously reported, Pearson was expected to face James Krause at the event, but Krause was forced to withdraw from the card.
The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale takes place July 8 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena. The night’s official bout order has yet to be set, but the evening’s main card airs on FOX Sports 1 following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.
As MMAjunkie reported in May, Brooks was released from Bellator despite holding the promotion’s lightweight belt at the time.
“It was very simple,” Bellator President Scott Coker told MMAjunkie at the time. “Will Brooks’ contract is ending, and we made a decision not to renew it. We’re going to give him a full release, so we’re not going to be in the Will Brooks business any longer.”
Brooks brings an eight-fight winning streak into his UFC debut. He fought most recently in November, earning a five-round unanimous decision win over Marcin Held to register his second consecutive defense of Bellator’s undisputed lightweight title.
Pearson will be looking for a second straight win for the first time in more than three years. After a two-fight winning streak over George Sotiropoulos and Ryan Couture, he had a no-contest with Melvin Guillard, then was robbed in a split-decision loss to Diego Sanchez that started his current eight-fight run of alternating losses and wins. Most recently, he took a split call from Chad Laprise in Australia in March at UFC Fight Night 85.
The current lineup for The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale includes:
Champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Claudia Gadelha – for for women’s strawweight title
opponent TBA vs. opponent TBA – “TUF 23” light heavyweight tournament final
opponent TBA vs. opponent TBA – “TUF 23” women’s strawweight tournament final
Will Brooks vs. Ross Pearson
Doo Ho Choi vs. Thiago Tavares
Andrew Holbrook vs. Joaquim Silva
Fernando Bruno vs. Gray Maynard
Cezar Ferreira vs. Anthony Smith
Li Jingliang vs. Anton Zafir
John Moraga vs. Matheus Nicolau
Kevin Lee vs. Jake Matthews
Pettis moving down to FW, fighting Do Bronx
Former lightweight champion Anthony "Showtime" Pettis will officially make his debut at featherweight at FOX UFC Fight Night in Vancouver on Aug. 27.
Pettis will face No. 7-ranked featherweight Charles Oliveira on the new card just confirmed by UFC officials to FOX Sports on Wednesday.
The new event will air live on FOX on Saturday night, Aug. 27, from the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
"Anthony Pettis is dropping down to featherweight to face Charles Oliveira and "Showtime" is always a highlight reel guy and so is Oliveira. That's going to be a great fight. We haven't even announced the main event yet and the main event's going to be very interesting too," UFC executive vice president Tom Wright told FOX Sports on Wednesday.
"I've seen both these guys fight live and they don't know how to have boring fights. It's really going to be interesting to see what (Pettis) does at featherweight and you know how the UFC is. We don't give anybody a mulligan or a give-me so his debut is against one of the best in the division. It's going to be awesome."
Pettis will move down to featherweight after a long career spent fighting at 155 pounds, where he was both the UFC and WEC lightweight champion in the past.
He'll get no easy test facing Oliveira as the Brazilian comes into the fight following a blistering quick finish over Myles Jury in his last bout, which moved him to 4-1 over his past five contests.
A middleweight matchup between Garreth McLellan and Alessio Di Chirico has also been added to the card.
"This will be the first big FOX card that other than the (Alexander) Gustafsson against (Anthony) 'Rumble' Johnson fight out in Sweden, this will be the first time it's been out of the United States. Vancouver's a world-class city. We've got great fans out there. This will be our fourth event (in Vancouver) so we're really excited about it and can hardly wait," Wright said about the card.
"I think the fans are going to see a great card. Dana (White), Joe Silva and Sean Shelby always put together great cards but for big FOX, I think it's going to be memorable."
Wright also teased that Canadian fans might want to keep an open schedule for the remainder of 2016 as well because another big event may be headed there before the end of the year.
"Once this event on August 27 is over, there's still four months left in 2016," Wright said. "If Canadians are looking forward to another big event, they should stay tuned."
Tickets for FOX UFC Fight Night in Vancouver will go on sale Friday, June 15 at 10 a.m. PT with more fights to be announced for the card in the coming days.
Former lightweight champion Anthony "Showtime" Pettis will officially make his debut at featherweight at FOX UFC Fight Night in Vancouver on Aug. 27.
Pettis will face No. 7-ranked featherweight Charles Oliveira on the new card just confirmed by UFC officials to FOX Sports on Wednesday.
The new event will air live on FOX on Saturday night, Aug. 27, from the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
"Anthony Pettis is dropping down to featherweight to face Charles Oliveira and "Showtime" is always a highlight reel guy and so is Oliveira. That's going to be a great fight. We haven't even announced the main event yet and the main event's going to be very interesting too," UFC executive vice president Tom Wright told FOX Sports on Wednesday.
"I've seen both these guys fight live and they don't know how to have boring fights. It's really going to be interesting to see what (Pettis) does at featherweight and you know how the UFC is. We don't give anybody a mulligan or a give-me so his debut is against one of the best in the division. It's going to be awesome."
Pettis will move down to featherweight after a long career spent fighting at 155 pounds, where he was both the UFC and WEC lightweight champion in the past.
He'll get no easy test facing Oliveira as the Brazilian comes into the fight following a blistering quick finish over Myles Jury in his last bout, which moved him to 4-1 over his past five contests.
A middleweight matchup between Garreth McLellan and Alessio Di Chirico has also been added to the card.
"This will be the first big FOX card that other than the (Alexander) Gustafsson against (Anthony) 'Rumble' Johnson fight out in Sweden, this will be the first time it's been out of the United States. Vancouver's a world-class city. We've got great fans out there. This will be our fourth event (in Vancouver) so we're really excited about it and can hardly wait," Wright said about the card.
"I think the fans are going to see a great card. Dana (White), Joe Silva and Sean Shelby always put together great cards but for big FOX, I think it's going to be memorable."
Wright also teased that Canadian fans might want to keep an open schedule for the remainder of 2016 as well because another big event may be headed there before the end of the year.
"Once this event on August 27 is over, there's still four months left in 2016," Wright said. "If Canadians are looking forward to another big event, they should stay tuned."
Tickets for FOX UFC Fight Night in Vancouver will go on sale Friday, June 15 at 10 a.m. PT with more fights to be announced for the card in the coming days.
Props:
Foul Mouth and Foul Mouth
Yair Rodriguez vs. Bruce Leeroy and Cub Swanson vs. Crusher Kawajiri set for UFC Fight Night Utah. Great step up in competition opponent for Yair, both these fights should be great.
Yair Rodriguez-Alex Caceres Headliner, 5 Other Bouts Set for UFC Fight Night in Utah
The UFC’s Aug. 6 trip to Salt Lake City is beginning to take shape, beginning with a featherweight headliner between Yair Rodriguez and Alex Caceres.
The bout was announced during Wednesday’s edition of “UFC Tonight.” In addition to the main event, five other contests were revealed: Cub Swanson vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri at featherweight; Court McGee vs. Dominique Steele at welterweight; Zak Cummings vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio at 170 pounds; Marcin Tybura vs. Viktor Pesta at heavyweight and Thales Leites vs. Chris Camozzi at middleweight. UFC Fight Night Salt Lake City takes place at Vivint Smart Home Arena and airs on Fox Sports 1.
Rodriguez has emerged as one of the promotion’s brightest young stars with victories in his first four appearances. Most recently, the Mexican featherweight scored a spectacular head kick knockout against Andre Fili at UFC 197 on April 23.
Caceres, meanwhile, enters the matchup on a two fight-winning streak after garnering consecutive decision triumphs against Cole Miller and Masio Fullen. “Bruce Leeroy” is 7-6 with one no contest over the course of his Octagon tenure.
Yair Rodriguez-Alex Caceres Headliner, 5 Other Bouts Set for UFC Fight Night in Utah
The UFC’s Aug. 6 trip to Salt Lake City is beginning to take shape, beginning with a featherweight headliner between Yair Rodriguez and Alex Caceres.
The bout was announced during Wednesday’s edition of “UFC Tonight.” In addition to the main event, five other contests were revealed: Cub Swanson vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri at featherweight; Court McGee vs. Dominique Steele at welterweight; Zak Cummings vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio at 170 pounds; Marcin Tybura vs. Viktor Pesta at heavyweight and Thales Leites vs. Chris Camozzi at middleweight. UFC Fight Night Salt Lake City takes place at Vivint Smart Home Arena and airs on Fox Sports 1.
Rodriguez has emerged as one of the promotion’s brightest young stars with victories in his first four appearances. Most recently, the Mexican featherweight scored a spectacular head kick knockout against Andre Fili at UFC 197 on April 23.
Caceres, meanwhile, enters the matchup on a two fight-winning streak after garnering consecutive decision triumphs against Cole Miller and Masio Fullen. “Bruce Leeroy” is 7-6 with one no contest over the course of his Octagon tenure.
Reading rumors GSP might be interested in coming out of retirement to step up to 185 and fight Bisping for the belt. If that's true GSP has balls taking a fight like that after a 3 year lay off. Bisping is huge compared to him and has an unlimited gas tank. GSP won't be able to jab Bisping to a decision and I don't see him being able to lay on him.
Looks like a $4.19 Billion bid for the UFC has been accepted. A group led by the William Morris Endeavor won the bidding process. Fertita Brothers are gone, Dana White still expected to own 6-7% of the company and continue his current role.
Story was broken by Jeremy Botter and dude seems to always be right when he breaks other stories.
[ame]https://twitter.com/jeremybotter/status/744011408451469312[/ame]
[ame]https://twitter.com/jeremybotter/status/744011932957544452[/ame]
[ame]https://twitter.com/jeremybotter/status/744013932633919493[/ame]
[ame]https://twitter.com/jeremybotter/status/744012710996754432[/ame]
Story was broken by Jeremy Botter and dude seems to always be right when he breaks other stories.
[ame]https://twitter.com/jeremybotter/status/744011408451469312[/ame]
[ame]https://twitter.com/jeremybotter/status/744011932957544452[/ame]
[ame]https://twitter.com/jeremybotter/status/744013932633919493[/ame]
[ame]https://twitter.com/jeremybotter/status/744012710996754432[/ame]
Shit, I forgot about the Fedor vs. Maldonado fight. Read the decision was bullshit and Maldonado should have won the fight or at minimum a draw. Saw a clip of Maldonado dropping Fedor and almost finishing him lol
Also read the judges and the ref were assigned by the Russian MMA Union which Fedor is the president of lol so basically his employees gifted him a win.
Need to watch this through and judge for myself.
Also read the judges and the ref were assigned by the Russian MMA Union which Fedor is the president of lol so basically his employees gifted him a win.
Need to watch this through and judge for myself.
